Iran, Hamas Launch 'Facebook Intifada'

After suffering from the use of Twitter and Facebook by opponents, Iran's leaders and Hamas call to use social networks against Israel.

By Gil Ronen

First Publish: 3/16/2010, 6:53 PM

ITIC

Iran has called for the launching of a “media intifada” against Israel, and the first results are apparently visible online, in the form of a Hamas Facebook group. Other groups and sites formed as part of the 'intifada' may have been removed or hacked.

According to the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center's latest briefing, a conference titled National and Islamic Solidarity for the Future of Palestine was held in Tehran on February 28. It was headed by Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who gave a typically belligerent anti-Israeli speech.

The conference's participants were a particularly nasty group of terrorists with a decades-old record of murdering civilians: Khaled Mashaal, the chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau; Ramadan Shalah, the secretary-general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group; and Ahmed Jibril, of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The Third Intifada?During the conference, Iran’s Intelligence Minister Haydar Maslahi called on Muslim countries to launch a what he called a “media intifada” against the Jewish homeland. Maslahi said that this intifada, or uprising, would be the third in number. He was apparently referring to the “First Intifada” that was launched in 1987, and the large scale terror war launched in the year 2000, which Arabs and others termed the “Second Intifada,” and which some in Israel call the Oslo War.

This uprising, he said, must be waged by establishing an online social network to expose the deeds of Israel and the US by means of a propaganda campaign against them. Maslahi also said that his ministry was willing to provide any assistance necessary to the Palestinian people for that purpose, according to a report on Iranian news agency IRNA.

The ITIC said that the intelligence minister’s call to use online social networks “must be considered within the context of the considerable effectiveness proven during the regime opponents’ struggle following the presidential elections.”

“Being aware of the effectiveness of that tool, the Iranian regime attempts to channel its use against Israel while waging an all-out war on such activities inside Iran. The Iranian regime often blocks websites which it finds unacceptable (such as websites affiliated with government opponents), detains bloggers, and even completely shuts down all Internet access during events such as the revolution anniversary.” (click here for INN's article about Egypt's similar internet censorship).

While a Facebook group called "One Thousand Day [sic] Gaza Under Siege” does exist, other Facebook pages and sites mentioned by ITIC are either nonexistent or proclaim themselves “under maintenance” and may have been closed down by administrators or damaged by hackers.